


James T. Kirk and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

by Demerite



Series: Trektober 2019 [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Domesticity, Light Angst, M/M, Tarsus IV mention, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 01:50:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20845574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demerite/pseuds/Demerite
Summary: In which Jim has a bad day, Chris worries, and Ash is amused.





	James T. Kirk and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

> Trektober Day 1: Domesticity. 
> 
> Also featuring married!Piler and Ash with glasses, because I can't help myself apparently.

"Why are you asleep outside my office?" Chris asks the dishevelled cadet who is hastily untangling himself from his spot on the floor. 

"I'm not asleep!" Jim Kirk insists, scrambling to his feet, "I wasn't asleep!" 

Chris can see that. Looking closer, Jim looks _rough. _His skin is pale, there are dark circles, like bruises, under his red-rimmed eyes. Everything about him, from his posture, to his expression, is broadcasting fear and exhaustion and defensive anger. He reminds Chris of a cornered wild animal, ready to lash out and snap at him if he gets any closer. 

"Alright," Chris says, stepping closer to Jim, noting the slight flinch that he can't quite contain, and unlocking his office door.

It's late. He’d just been planning on ducking back into his office after his meeting with the Academy board to grab a PADD he’d left on his desk, and then head home to Ash, but it seems that he has more immediate concerns to deal with. 

The lights come on automatically, and Chris waves Jim inside. "Sit down." He says, tries to make it come across as an invitation, and not an order. 

Jim sinks into one of the two visitors chairs in front of Chris' desk, eyeing him warily. Chris sits in the other, sitting next to Jim instead of on the other side of the desk, turning to face him. He doesn't want a barrier between them, wants them on as close to an even footing as they can be for whatever this conversation is. 

"You want to tell me why you're 'not sleeping' outside my office instead of in your dorm?" Chris asks after a moment of tense silence. 

Jim's wary gaze drops to his own lap, and he mumbles something that's too quiet, or too slurred, for Chris to hear. 

"Speak up son, I'm an old man." Chris quips, and he's gratified to see the corners of Jim's mouth twitch upwards a little in amusement. 

"My roommate changed the door codes on me again." Jim admits, "Normally I'd go to Hikaru's, but he's got an astrophysics exam tomorrow morning and I didn't wanna wake him up, and I figured that everyone's scared enough of you that if I camped outside your door then no-one would fuck with me." 

Unprofessional language aside, Chris has to admit that it's not the worst plan he's heard from Jim in the past year. It's also far from the best. But there's something else weighing on his mind, "People are scared of me?" He asks, confused. 

"Well, they're scared of your husband." Jim corrects himself. 

"I don't have a husband." Chris lies. It's a lie he and Ash have gotten very used to. 

"Sir," Jim gives him a pointed look, "I've read your file." 

"We're gonna talk about how you accessed that." Chris warns him, and Jim doesn't even look remotely worried. "_Anyway_." Chris continues, steering their conversation back to its original topic before Jim tries to wiggle out of the entire thing, "Your plan was to sleep on the floor, outside of my office, and hope that, oh, I don't know, the cleaning staff didn't kick you out?" 

Jim's shoulders hunch in a way that tells Chris he hadn't thought that far ahead, "I would've got a couple of hours." He mutters combatively. 

"_If _no-one had come past in that time." 

"It's Friday night." Jim retorts, defensive, "No-one was supposed to still be here." 

Chris considers that. Jim honestly isn't wrong. But right or wrong, Chris isn't letting him sleep on the corridor floor, much less a corridor he's not supposed to be able to access. He's also concerned about the fact that Jim seems to have a roommate who sees fit to lock him out of the dorm. They'll talk about that. Later. 

"So, where are you going to sleep now?" He asks Jim, not dancing around the topic. 

Jim shrugs. "Library, maybe." He says as if he isn't bothered by it. He's good, but he's not _that _good. Chris can already see his nonchalance starting to crack. 

He sighs, quietly. Ash is gonna kill him for this. Or more likely, he's gonna laugh his ass off. "What you're going to do," He says, capturing Jim's attention with his tone, not quite what he'd use on the bridge, but enough that he knows Jim is most definitely listening, "Is come and sleep on my couch, and on the way, you're gonna explain _why _your roommate decided to change the codes on you - wait, did you say _again_?" 

"It's not a big deal." Jim insists. 

"Like hell it isn't." Chris mutters viciously, "Come on." 

Looking a little surprised, probably at his language, Jim follows Chris up from the chairs, and out of the office,

*

"So, how long has your roommate been locking you out for?" Chris asks. 

They're on the way back to Chris and Ash's apartment, and Jim is steadily avoiding eye-contact. "A while." He says, eventually. 

Chris takes the non-answer, and presses onwards, "Why this time?" 

"We had a...disagreement." Jim is still evading both eye-contact, and giving a straight answer. 

"About?" 

"Just some stuff that came up in Federation History." Jim says, and at Chris' enquiring noise, he admits, "I kinda lost my temper." 

"And so he locked you out of your dorm?" Even for a classroom argument, Chris feels like that's an extreme reaction. There has to be more to this. He tries to think for a moment, back to what is studied in First-Year Federation History. It takes a second, but he's familiar with the basic curriculum outline, even if some of the events are too recent for him to have actually studied himself, and the realisation hits him. _Tarsus IV. _He's aware of Jim's background, has read his file dozens of times, he knows every bit of official information about what Jim went through on that planet that there is to know. He'd been meaning to pull some strings with the board, get Jim transferred out of that class before they made it to that topic, but Jim's non-academic record, littered with fights with other students, sneaking off-campus, and general smartassery towards his instructors, had been making it difficult. 

"I called him some pretty awful things." Jim admits. 

"Deserved, I'm sure." Chris replies, and when Jim shoots him a surprised look, "I"ll get you a dorm transfer first thing on Monday, and you can test out of the rest of that class if you want to." 

The look on Jim's face goes from surprised, to alarmed, to suspicious. "Why?" He asks simply, and okay, Chris has to admit, that's a fair question. 

"Because I've read your file, too." He tells Jim. 

Jim seems to accept that, because he doesn't say anything until they arrive at the apartment. 

*

Ash takes Chris bringing home a sullen-looking cadet without any warning surprisingly well. Chris had been so wrapped up in his conversation with Jim that he'd not had time to send him a message, but Ash barely even blinks when Jim follows Chris into the apartment out of the cold night. 

Chris shoots Ash a mildly apologetic look, mouths 'I can explain' at him, and escorts Jim in the direction of the sofa. 

By the time he makes it to the bedroom, some fifteen minutes later, Ash is already settled under the blankets, reading from a PADD, the light reflecting off his glasses. 

"Hi." Chris says, crossing to the bed, and leaning down to kiss him. 

"Hi." Ash mumbles back, "Busy day?" 

"So-so." Chris steps back and goes in search of sleepwear, "Meetings." 

"And yet you still brought work home with you." Ash teases, nodding in the direction of the living room, and Jim. 

Chris rolls his eyes at the joke, and then lets out a sigh. "Roommate trouble." He says, pitching his voice low so it doesn't carry through the small apartment, "And...some other stuff." He leaves his clothes on the floor, which Ash will complain at him about in the morning, and crawls under the blankets with his husband. 

"Sucker." Ash murmurs gently, leaning over to kiss his forehead.

"Isn't that why you married me?" Chris asks, smirking at the innuendo. 

Ash gives him a look that is all raised eyebrows and '_really?'_ that has been a constant in their relationship since they met. 

Chris sighs, "I meant to get him transferred out of that class before now." He admits, "But with everything that's been happening...it slipped by, and he and his roommate got into it over Tarsus IV and well..." He runs a hand through his hair in frustration. "I should have helped him earlier." 

Ash shifts around until he can pull Chris into his arms, and Chris relaxes into the embrace. "You're 'helping him now." Ash says, the words quiet, barely a puff of breath against his temple, "That's what's important." 

*

When Chris gets back from his run the next morning, it's to find Jim and Ash in the kitchen.

Jim is leant against the breakfast bar, hands wrapped around a mug of coffee, talking quietly with Ash. From the look on his husband's face, Chris is fairly certain Ash is plotting someone's doom, and from the delight on Jim's, he's fairly sure it's his roommate's. 

"Well, this can only end badly." He announces. 

Two sets of very guilty eyes turn towards him. 

"We weren't planning a murder, if that makes you feel any better." Ash says. 

"Like you could." Chris teases. He knows Ash is more than capable, but they like to pretend, for both their mental stability, that he isn't, at least until it's entirely necessary. 

Jim makes a noise that suggests he doesn't agree with this assessment. "I think you could." He says. 

"Really?" Ash asks, in a prompting sort of tone, "What makes you think that?" 

"Well, you're the head of Section 31." Jim says, like that answers the whole question, after giving Ash a long, calculating look.

Ash chokes on his coffee. 

"I told you he was quick." Chris says with a grin.

Jim ducks his head to stare at his coffee, and Chris can see a hint of colour on his cheeks. Jim has never handled praise well when it's from someone whose opinion seems to care about.

Chris counts himself _very _lucky to be one of those few. 

**Author's Note:**

> Want to know more about Trektober? Click [HERE](https://aishahiwatari.tumblr.com/post/188059640163/trektober) for the info post on Aisha's tumblr, or [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Trektober2019) for the AO3 collection to read our fic. 
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr](https://demerite.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
